C80

"What crime did you commit?" Xuanyuan Zhenhua asked, feigning ignorance.

"This servant deserves to die. I lost the thief just now and was afraid that the empress would be frightened, so I brought other corpses to replace him." "The sin of a servant, I beg the Emperor to grant me death!" The leading guard kowtowed again and again. It didn't matter if he lost his life because he was afraid that his family would be harmed.

"Xiaoxiao, what do you think we should do with this person?" Since the answer to this riddle had been revealed, Xuanyuan Zhenhua had also given him a small amount of authority.

Xiaoxiao did not spare the guard leader another glance as she replied without hesitation, "Royal Father, the reason he lied was because he was afraid of scaring the sickly empress. It could also be considered good intentions. Since it's a first time offense, then let's punish him by burying this corpse and giving him the punishment that he originally wanted to lose. Let's just not offend him again in the future. "

She did not want the life of a leading guard, since he was not the main culprit. Even if he were to be executed, it would only cause a vengeful spirit to appear in the palace. It was easy to fall into hell for such a sinner to be created. She didn't want to do that!

"Good!" Great! Let's do it! Qi'er, from today onwards, you will be in charge of all the small security matters. " Xuanyuan Zhenhua clapped his hands and smiled in relief.

"Qi'er, accept your order!" However, Xuanyuan Qi was extremely willing.

"Jie'er, send more people to ensure the Queen's safety." Xuanyuan Zhenhua ordered his second son.

"Yes sir!" Xuanyuan Jie listened to him.

Xuanyuan Zhenhua then ordered the guard in the lead, "You, expiate your sins and send guards from the imperial harem to find the masked man as soon as possible. Don't let the empress live in fear."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you, Crown Princess. This servant will do it right away. I will do it right away!" Lifting his head back up, the leading guard became flustered and excited. Just as he stood up and heard the Emperor speak, he fell to his knees with a thump.

"Send more people to patrol the entrance of the rouge hall. You are not allowed to disturb Madame Ping." Xuanyuan Zhenhua was worried about Pingfei, but he didn't want anyone to disturb her.

"This subordinate accepts the order!" The head guard swore solemnly and bowed deeply before leaving.

Xiaoxiao was very satisfied with today's answer and raised her eyebrows to look at the ugly Xuanyuan Jie, hoping that he would do something good for himself. Otherwise, if he really had a weakness for it, he would definitely suffer.

Xuanyuan Jie was both furious and helpless. Looking at Xiaoxiao's proud gaze, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat for her. Clasping his hands together, he said with conviction: "Father, this son did not protect you well, please grant me a punishment!"

Xuanyuan Zhenhua looked at Xuanyuan Jie, his face full of sincerity. He shook his head and said with deep meditation, "If you know, then you are guilty. If you don't know, then you are innocent. Evil can be put down."

"Father, this son is puzzled!" Xuanyuan Jie cupped his hands and bowed his head. He understood the meaning behind royal father's words. What would his mother think after hearing these words?

"You'll understand one day." Xuanyuan Zhenhua did not bother to explain as he turned to Xiaoxiao and said, "Xiao-Xiao, next time when we go see Consort Ping, you should let Qi'er accompany you. Worse comes to worse, we should have him wait for you at the door so that if anything happens to him, Imperial Father will regret it for once."

"Yes!"

So touching. He was like a real father who was thinking for himself everywhere. "Don't worry royal father, I will no longer mess around in the future and live a good life with this grandpa. Please don't always worry about me, I'm not a child anymore."

"Good!" "Alright!" Xuanyuan Zhenhua gave a series of applause and smiled in relief. He stroked his beard as he walked unsteadily into the house.

Xuanyuan Qi clenched his tiny hands tightly and pulled his into his embrace, looking at the elderly back of his father. These days, royal father seemed to have really aged a lot.

Xuanyuan Jie threw a jealous glance at Xuanyuan Zhi and Xiaoxiao before he silently left the courtyard, planning out what would happen next in order to find his master.

It's all gone. Xiaoxiao didn't want to stay in this courtyard any longer. The smell of the corpse was still lingering in the air. She scanned the courtyard and found that the girl called Ran Er was already gone.

"What are you looking for?" Xuanyuan Qi thought Xiaoxiao was just pretending to be calm, but in reality, he was already frightened.

"Where did that girl called Ran Er go?" I always thought she was weird. " Xiao Lan'er didn't know why, but she felt goosebumps all over her body.

"I've already sent someone to check on her, but I can't find anything about her past. "Also, Eunuch Lin suddenly fell ill and is now lying unconscious in his bed." At the mention of Ran'er, Xuanyuan Zhi also furrowed his brows.

He originally wanted to tell this matter to royal father, but seeing royal father's aged back, he really couldn't bear to let the elderly think too much. Therefore, he planned to think of a way to find out her background before making his plans.

"Maybe she's not human at all." Xiaoxiao thoughtfully looked in the direction of the door. She felt that her intuition was not wrong.

"No …" Xuanyuan Qi felt a gust of cold wind blowing towards him, causing his entire body to tremble.

He took a small step and walked out of the courtyard. She decided that she would go see Pingfei now and ask what had happened to that woman.

"Xiaoxiao, where are you going?" Xuanyuan Qi hurriedly gave chase and followed with small steps until they arrived at the entrance of the rouge hall.

Then, at this moment, they saw Ran Er walk out of the rouge hall.

Xiao Bu Dian rushed forward and questioned, "You... What are you doing? "

"Reporting to the imperial concubine, Ran'er will follow His Majesty's orders to deliver some clothes to esteemed wangfei Ping." Ran Er lowered her head and replied. She looked very calm.

However, Xiaoxiao had slowly gotten used to her expression, and she always looked as calm as ever.

"I see, so it is Imperial Father who is concerned about me. So what happened to Madam Ping?" Xuanyuan Qi hit Xiaoxiao with his hand. Since he felt that she wasn't human, he didn't want to anger her for now. In any case, there was a rule in the world. One thing could always subdue another.

"Reporting to the crown prince, this servant searched the entire courtyard but couldn't find any trace of Lady Pingfei. We can only put the clothes in the pavilion inside and report to the Emperor first! " Ran'er kept her head down, speaking calmly.

"How could that be?"

The little girl became anxious when she heard this. There was no reason for her to not see him. Could something have happened? Thinking of this, she ran into the courtyard with all her might and soon disappeared.

"If you go back to the emperor, then tell him that all is well with Concubine Ping. She can leave now!" After he finished speaking in a commanding tone, Xuanyuan Qi followed the little figure through the main entrance of the rouge hall.

Ran Er raised her head and watched the two of them disappear into the rouge hall. At this moment, she could no longer smile. Her face was full of hesitation, and her pair of black eyes had turned blood-red from anger.

She gritted her teeth and took a deep breath, forcing the blood back into her body. After her eyes turned black, she turned and left.

At this moment, the rouge flower was in a miserable state, and the ground was littered with the petals of the rouge flower. It seemed that someone had just frantically swept the place with his sword, and many sword marks could be seen even on the walls of the courtyard.

Walking forward and stroking the sword, her heart felt as if it was suddenly torn to shreds. Squatting down, she picked up the remaining petals on the ground, her tears streaming down her face.

Xuanyuan Qi followed behind him and entered the yard. He looked at the rouge flowers on the ground and the courtyard which was in a miserable state. His first instinct was that this place had just been robbed.

But, what could a cold palace like the rouge hall possibly have that was valuable?

Baby, property?

If all these were unlikely, then what was the purpose of these people?

While Xuanyuan Qi was still thinking, Xiaoxiao suddenly stood up from the ground and ran out of the yard without looking back, running towards the pavilion.

Within the pavilion, the ancient guqin was shattered into pieces on the ground. The entire courtyard seemed to be in a mess, making it hard for anyone to imagine what had just happened.

"Mother!" Mom, where are you? "Mother!" Shouting like a crazed child, Little Jun ran through the rooms, frantically running down the long corridor.

No one, no one anywhere. After running through a few courtyards, her heart was in a panic as she clutched at her chest. Her heart was filled with worry, and her mind was filled with memories of the miserable state that Madame Ping had in front of her.

"Mother? You said that she's your mother? "

As soon as Xuan Yuan entered the room, he was immediately greeted with sweat. If this little girl was the daughter of Madame Ping, then wouldn't that mean …?

"What an idiot!" She rolled her eyes at Xuanyuan Zhi. At this time, she didn't want to waste any more of her time on this kid.

No!

Even if she died, she had to see her corpse. She did not believe that her mother would leave so soon.

"If you are … it would be best to explain yourself clearly, lest you really do something wrong and become the laughingstock of the world." Of course, Xuanyuan Qi was nervous. He could not joke about such things. He grabbed her little dress and looked at her very seriously.

He pushed away Xuanyuan Qi with a tiny push, not bothering to pay any attention to this lunatic. He thought of other places in his mind and hurriedly ran towards the courtyard that Princess Ping lived in.

"Stop! "Tell me clearly." How could Xuanyuan Zhi be willing to give up? He chased after them and grabbed onto another person at the entrance of the courtyard that Little Xiaoxiao was staying in.

This time, Xiaoxiao was greatly infuriated. Pointing at Xuanyuan Qi, she yelled out, "Are you stupid? You can't even find the person yet you're thinking about such a thing. I tell you, I saw her alone, so I took her as a godmother. Alright! Enough! You can go find someone now, right? "

Finally, Xuanyuan Zhi released his hand and looked at Xiaoxiao embarrassedly.

Now, Xiaoxiao did not even have the strength to get angry. Staring at the courtyard that Madam Ping resided in, her entire face turned pale as she staggered and fell into Xuanyuan Zhi's arms.

"What's wrong?"

Xuanyuan Qi followed the direction of the small gaze and looked forward. He saw two big, bald trees standing in the middle of the courtyard, and they were coincidentally facing the room that Madam Ping was staying. They looked just like two mighty gatekeepers.

"Mom, Mom might really be in trouble." Little Jun feebly moved his mouth and started to walk forward.

Xuanyuan Qi supported her as the two of them walked into the courtyard with heavy steps.

Upon entering the hospital, a familiar aura gushed forth and covered his nose. On the other hand, Xuanyuan Qi, who possessed powerful martial arts skills, was completely unaware of this. His legs had gone soft, and his body was not listening to him at all. What was even more unexpected was that before he could even take a few steps, his vision blurred and he fell backwards.

Xiaoxiao watched as Xuanyuan Qi fell down from behind without any reaction, blinking his eyes in curiosity. He thought to himself, Maybe it's because I was poisoned last time and my body became immune to it, so these knockout drugs had no effect on me.